Live At The Ventura Theater Review

Released: November 9, 2004
The cinematographey is decent, but not as smooth and choreographed as other concerts. The features are limited, but are defienetly better than nothing. The band plays very well for being so little known, and with as little fans they have in the rock and roll genre.

Live At The Ventura Theater
Reviewed by:
audioboxer16, on may 02, 2005 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Sound: When I watch a concert, my main pet peeve is the sound and how it's edited. Something Corporate sure didn't miss much when it came to producing sound. Josh Partington and Bobby Anderson's guitars are practically perfect in every way, they're perfectly tuned, toned, and volumed correctly, at least I think so for the DVD shoot they did. The biggest audio flaw, although very noticeable, is too engulfed in fun and immaturity to be acknowleged. You'll be having too much fun dancing around to "If You C Jordan" to notice Andrew scream the last word of the song into his microphone as loud as he can. The sound seems muffled and crackled, as if everything was turned up too loud. This doesn't change my feeling of satisfaction for the sound of the DVD.
Something Corporate's style is a very emo (emotional) type of punk rock, but definetely not too mushy gushy. The slowest song they play in the concert, called "Konstantine," is a crowd favorite and is the band's rarest song of all time, having only been released on two albums that are almost impossible to get ahold of. The song is about Andrew's old girlfriend, and the crushed feeling he went through when they broke up. The title is a reference to the 'constant' heartaches he used to get. // 10

Content: The documentary before the concert itself is hilarious, and the audio on that isn't as good as the audio during the concert, but it's still very pleasing. Andrew, Clutch, and Brian reveal their silly young personalities, and Josh tells us more about where the band came from. Probably the DVD's biggest flaw which upset me was that Bobby Anderson either never agreed or was never around to be documented. I suppose it paid off seeing him do so good in the concert. There are no real special features on the DVD except for a few photos that are easy-accesible through the Special Features menu, where the documentay can also be found. It may also be viewed by selecting "Play All" from the main menu.
The DVD's biggest, and most noticable and irritating flaw is that the track list is screwed up. When Andrew takes a short break during a song to ask how to audience is doing and say a few more words, it skips to the next chapter as if it were a new scene. Since there are now interludes marked on the Chapter Selection, the track lists become messed up (for example, while trying to access "Space" by selecting '15' from your remote control, you may accidently access "Konstantine"). Track/chapter selection list:
01. Hurricane
02. 21 And Invincible
03. As You Sleep
04. I Woke Up In A Car
05. If I Die
06. Me And The Moon
07. I Kissed A Drunk Girl
08. Only Ashes
09. Ruthless
10. Fall
11. Down
12. Wait
13. Walking By
14. Konstantine
15. Space
16. If U C Jordan
17. Punk Rock Princess
During If You C Jordan, Andrew seems very out of tune while singing the chorus. This isn't any audio flaw or anything other than the fact that he's tired! He's just sung 15 awesomely good and vocally intermediate songs - give him a break! // 6

Production Quality: The camera movement isn't exactly impressive, but it's average, and only gets mildly out of hand during "Only Ashes." All the other songs are filmed nicely, and each band member gets about equal screen time (with the exception of Andrew, who gets the most simply because he's singing). The camera movements are not at all choppy, or dizzying. There is not excessive zooming and cutting; it's actually rather smooth. // 8

Overall Impression: Compared to the other concert DVD's I own (Rush In Rio, AC/DC Live At Donington, etc), I'd say that this DVD is a little less professional. The cinematographey is decent, but not as smooth and choreographed as other concerts. The features are limited, but are defienetly better than nothing. The band plays very well for being so little known, and with as little fans they have in the rock and roll genre, (compared to The Rolling Stones and/or The Who) they still find the funds to make albums and never dissapoint. This is one of those concert DVD's that, if released on VHS and I owned, I would buy again on DVD when released. Note that there IS a parental advisory label on the concert, not because ALL of the music is foul (some lyrics are dirty, but none of the songs have been bad enough to get any of their albums labeled), but because of the language Andrew uses during his short interludes. There is no nudity/flashing, drug use, or violence of any sort. // 8